On the second day, Saturday, Zhang Yang continued to work and went to watch the game in the evening to cheer for his teammates.
The Shooting Star Challenge featured three teams: Spurs, Pistons, and Phoenix Suns.
The Spurs and Phoenix Suns pulled a stunt, sending Duncan and Stoudemire to participate as three-point shooters, which made Billups, representing the Pistons, feel rather resentful.
Billups: You guys are making our team look stupid!
I should’ve let the Heavenly Venerate play, those two bastards combined don’t shoot threes as accurately as him.
Perhaps affected mentally, Billups missed five times and only scored on his sixth attempt at the three-point spot, wasting a lot of time. Stoudemire made his shot on his fifth try.
The craziest was Duncan, nailing it in one shot, providing the WNBA Silver Stars’ superstar Becky Hammon ample time for mid-court shooting.
Thanks to the chance created by Duncan, the Spurs defeated the Pistons by a margin of four seconds, despite other teammates performing worse than the Pistons, clinching the Shooting Star Challenge championship.
After the warm-up game, the three events began.
The Skills Challenge this year was quite a spectacle, with six contestants, two champions: defending champion Wade, and the first-ever champion Kidd. The other four are from the 05 batch, all of whom have made a name for themselves—Paul, Deron, Felton, Ellis.
Not disappointing fans, Deron, first to play, shattered the 25.8-second historical record set by Nash in 05 with a 25.5-second completion in the prelims, shocking everyone.
Next up was Ellis, who also showcased his prowess, completing the prelims in 25.7 seconds.
The referee confirmed the scores, and when the screen displayed the results, the crowd went wild again.
The original champion Kidd and defending champion Wade exchanged glances: Does that mean one of us won’t make it past the prelims?
Before the competition began, both were quite confident, but now, not at all.
Next, Paul was the third to perform.
Inspired by Deron and Ellis, he exploded with speed, as his quick throw hit the mark, the time froze at 25.5 seconds, tying the historical record set by Deron.
Kidd: I shouldn’t have come! If I’m not selected for the All-Star again, I should’ve stayed home to rest.
Wade: Is it still possible to quit now? Who stipulated that the defending champion must participate? Am I not allowed to bow out due to injury? Playing in an All-Star game isn’t mandatory...
Ellis: Really? My performance might not make it past the prelims?
Ellis’ ominous feeling came true. Stimulated by his fellow batch mates Deron, Paul, and Ellis, Felton swiftly completed the race, with a 25.3-second score, breaking the record of 25.5 seconds just established by Deron and Paul!
Once the referee confirmed Felton’s score was valid, Ellis, who just broke the record, was eliminated in the prelims!
Ellis: Where am I? What am I here for? Why did I come?
Not yet on the court, Kidd, Wade: Give me the ball, I want to go home!
The former record setter Son of the Wind: I thought my 25.8 seconds was unbeatable, now four players are taking turns smashing my record? Is there still justice? Any law?
Bystander Zhang San: Thankfully, I cleverly chose not to participate with Little Fat Boss, these scoundrels surely planned to gang up and crush me!
Then Kidd and Wade, under the overwhelming pressure and the frenetic applause from the crowd, went on... and flopped.
The original champion Kidd took 49 seconds to finish the race, spending almost twice the time as the top three, eliminated; defending champion Wade didn’t complete within a minute, disqualified.
Felton, Deron, Paul advanced to the finals.
The first in the finals was Paul, who immediately made a mistake, finishing in 42.7 seconds, unable to continue his wild preliminary performance.
Unless Deron and Felton both run into bad luck, the championship has nothing to do with Paul.
Once Paul’s score was confirmed, Deron and Felton exchanged a glance.
At this moment, just like that moment.
Three Aprils ago, they met in the NCAA finals, where Felton ended up smiling. This time, Deron wanted to take down Felton!
Deron was second in the finals, completing in 31.1 seconds. Compared to the prelims, it was quite a difference, with several mistakes, but overall it was pretty good, a championship-worthy score.
However, Felton is more adept in finals.
The last to play was Felton, who also made some mistakes, but overall his rhythm and stability were better than Deron’s. His final layup went into the basket with time still under 30 seconds.
29.8 seconds, Felton defeated Deron and Paul, securing the Skills Challenge championship!
Upon confirming his score, an exhilarated Felton ran around the court to enjoy the cheers of the crowd.
The fans were truly thrilled to watch, it was arguably the most fiercely contested and exciting Skills Challenge ever, everyone cheered for Felton’s ultimate victory.
Zhang Yang saw Felton’s excitement, akin to when he won the championship last year, completely understandable.
Deron and Paul are whom Felton most longs to beat, just as Zhang San feels every time he encounters Iverson, Wade, and Paul, the three superstars wearing number 3 jerseys.
Millsap won Rookie Game MVP, Felton claimed the Skills Challenge championship, and Mike Miller was one of the three-point contest favorites... Zhang Yang thought of this and suddenly realized their team is only missing participants in the Dunk Contest this year.